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(No Model.)

F. H. SHEPHERD 85 J. W. MEYER.

' TAG FOE WALL PAPER, &c. No. 279,192. Patented June 12,1883.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANCIS H. SHEPHERD AND JOHN W. MEYER, OF DAVENPORT, IOWA.

TAG FOR WALL-PAPER, 8w.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 279,192. dated June 12,1883.

Application filed April2,183; No model) To all whom it may concern Be itknown that we, FRANCIS H. SHEPHERD and J OHN W. MEYER, citizens of theUnited States, residing at Davenport, in the county of Scott and Stateof Iowa, have invented a new and and Improved Wall-Paper and Border Tag,of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description,reference being had to the annexed drawings and letters of referencemarked thereon, forming a part of this our specification of saidinvention, in which drawtudinal section of the tag, and Fig. 3 aperspeotive view of the same. Fig. 4 indicates the body of the tag madeentirely of metal.

The object of our invention is the production of a tag suitable foreither marking or numbering or exhibiting the price of a roll of eitherwallpaper or borders, and which can readily be applied either to a rollof wall-pa per or a roll of border-paper and detached therefrom, asoccasion may require.

Heretofore tags for wallpaper and borders have been applied thereto bytying the tag upon the roll, or by pieces of paper attached withmucilage, or by other 1 cans, showing either a given number signifyingthe character or quality of the roll or the price of a given roll; butthisplan of designation was not only troublesome to carry out, but oftenresulted in mutilating the paper roll. By our invention thesedisadvantages are avoided and atag pro duced which can in a moment beattached to the exposed end of a roll of either wallpaper or borders,and so be displayed to View, while the rolls are packed in the severalapartments of the racks employed by paper hangers and dealers forholding the same in their warerooms.

In Figs. 1, 2, and 3, A indicates a disk of thick, stiff paper withperforations, as at a, through it and with a wire, as B, passed throughthe same, the wire in its normal condition being spread apart, as shownin Figs. 2, 3, and 4, so as to require a compression of its extremitiesb b, in order to insert the tag in the central opening, 0, which alwaysexists in a roll of wall-paper or in a roll of border-paper, asindicated in Fig. 1.

D indicates adisk of thin paper, correspond ing in size with A, andattached thereto, as shown, with glue or mucilage, after the wire B hasbeen inserted through the disk A; and upon the exposed surface of thedisk D any desired. number as, for example, 35 or or any other numberdesignated by figures is printedthe same being put thereon to designatethe price per roll of any particular roll of a lot of rolls, or thequality of the particular roll to which the tag may be applied.

It will be seen that by simply compressing the extremities b of the tag,the tag may readily be inserted into the central opening, 0, of the rollof wall-paper or border-paper F, as the case may be, and that thespringy action of the wire B to resume its normal condition, as shown inFigs. 2 and 3, will hold the tag in position in the roll, and thiswithout in the least injuring the roll of paper; and, further,

that the roll may be unrolled to exhibit thesame to a customer withoutremoving the tag. In Fig. 1 the tag is shown partially inserted inposition; but when wholly so the rear of the disk A will abut againstthe end of the roll, while at the same time, 'by reason of rigidlyattaching the bowed portion of the wire to the metal plate, and alsoconstructing the prongs of the wire B of springy metal and flared, asshownin Figs. 2 and 3, said prongs, when inserted into the hollow centerof the roll of paper, as shown in Fig. 1, will have a spring action atthe disk-connection and away therefrom, and thus press against theinterior of said roll, so as to effectively hold the tag in positiontherein by a spring frictional contact extending the entire length ofthe prongs.

The advantage of our improved tag for wallpaper and borders is apparent,in that the same can be readily attached to or detached with the'numberof a given tag, can find the pattern needed in an instant, and that thenumber of his goods will be preserved and held in place until the lastyard of border or paper is sold. The part A need not be in disk form.Any other proper form will answeras, for example, either square oroblong. YVe therefore do. not confine ourselves to any particular formof the' part A; neither do we confine ourselves to the use of stiffpaper from which to make the part A; nor to the puncturing of the sameat a. a, for the insertion of the wire 13, as the part A may be made oftin or other proper metal, and the bow b of the wire be soldered theretoupon one of its surfaces, while paperd), with number thereon, may beaffixed to its opposite surface, or the number of the tag may be paintedupon such surface.

Fig. 4. indicates the part A as consisting of metal, with the wire Battached thereto by sol der f, applied upon the bow If oi" the wire andthe rear surface of the part A.

Ve are aware that heretofore a tag has been constructed with pointedsharp-ended arms to pass through the indexdace of the tag and thenthrough a piece of cloth, to which it is held by turning down thesharp-pointed arms upon the cloth; but this we do not claim.

Our tag is specially adapted for use in connection with rolls ofwall-paper and borders, and the tag is held in the central openingtherein by the expansion or spring action of its holding-wire, and doesnot pierce the fabric in order to be held in place, and therefore is notliable to injure the fabric to which it is applied. r

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a wall-paper and; border tag, the combination, with theindex-plate A, of the springymetal pronged wire 13, with flaring endsand rigidly fastened to the said plate, whereby the prongs are caused toexert a spring-holding action upon the roll of paper or border wheninserted into the same, substantially as described.

2. The combination, with the index-pl ate A, of the springyanetal.pronged wire B, the prongs being flared, substantially as described.

FRANCIS H. SHEPHERD. JOHN WV. MEYER. Witnesses:

\VM. FINFIELD, Orr. J APP.

